THE RABBIT HOLE IS GOOD. FOLLOW IT WHERE IT LEADS. STOP WHEN YOU FIND A RABBIT. PROVE THE RABBIT. BETTER YET, FIND A PUPPY. PROVE THE PUPPY.
Wanna See a Good One?
- Follow this link to cardinal’s Stone Money essay. It’s remarkably good.
A Note about the Process.
- The purpose of assigning a Hypothesis very early in the semester was not to put you behind or thwart your progress, it was to get the ball rolling.
- You identified a topic. It wasn’t well-defined or as sharp as it would need to be to support an academic argument, but it was SOMETHING meaningful that prompted you to begin to explore source material.
- From here, the process is cumulative and flexible. Instead of wasting your time “brainstorming” about your vague notion, you start to read in your area of interest. From here, the process is cumulative and flexible. And repetitive. Instead of wasting your time “brainstorming” about your vague notion, you start to read in your area of interest. From here, the process is cumulative and flexible. And repetitive. Instead of wasting your time “brainstorming” about your vague notion, you start to read in your area of interest.
- AS YOU GATHER AND INVESTIGATE SOURCES, your vague notion begins to crystallize. You start to have ideas, find angles, develop theories, encounter surprising details you can’t wait to share!
- You gather the best of those sources into your White Paper and cluster them around WHATEVER HAPPENS TO BE YOUR BEST WORKING HYPOTHESIS.
- As the semester continues, you do more research, abandon early ideas, refine your thinking, place new sources into conversation with old sources, and DEVELOP A THESIS YOU CAN PROVE.
- AT NO POINT IN THE PROCESS is there a place where you can get stuck thinking, “I have to solve this problem before I can continue.” Moving forward is the solution.
- You write early drafts of short arguments along the way. First a Definition/Categorical argument. Then a Causal Argument. Finally, a Rebuttal argument, all based on your developing thesis.
- Each of these arguments can be revised as many times as you wish, always for grade improvement.
- Eventually, the entire project coalesces into a single 3000-word, well-researched, carefully argued Research Position Paper that proves a single thesis.
Today’s New Material
- A Demonstration of Claims Analysis
- Finding and Analyzing Claims In a video
- “Let’s Harvest the Organs of Death Row Inmates”
- A Model of Claims Analysis (of the Death Row Inmates video)
Task
- Identifying Claims (The Claims Task)
- DUE DATE MON FEB 22 (11:59PM SUN FEB 21)
- Source Material for your Critical Reading
- “Is PTSD Contagious?” print version
- “Is PTSD Contagious?” podcast
LINK TO THE ASSIGNMENT
- Here’s the link to the Subject Matter post including the entire print text.
- Claims Task
- The Claims Task assignment page includes a fairly comprehensive list of Claim Types and a very useful model of Student Work to guide you in formatting your work for this assignment.
Sample Claims Analysis:
Consider these claims, some obvious, others hidden
When Caleb was finally screened for the severity of his TBI, Brannan says he got the second-worst score in the whole 18-county Gulf Coast VA system, which serves more than 50,000 veterans.
— “finally screened” means that according to Brannan or the author or both, Caleb should have been screened long before. It suggests that the VA was negligent in delaying his testing.
— “the severity of his TBI” clearly contains the claim that he in fact has some degree of TBI. The fact that he hadn’t until then been screened for it means nobody knew for sure that he did, but the author makes that claim.
— “Brannan says” means that the author has not independently verified Caleb’s score or where it ranked against all other screenings.
— “the second-worst score in the whole 18-county Gulf Coast VA system” is offered as Brannan’s claim that her husband is suffering more than almost anyone. Considering her vested interest in promoting this perspective, we have to be at least a little suspicious of the ranking.
— “which serves more than 50,000 veterans” gives the impression that Caleb was hurt worse than 50,000 other veterans. But let’s be clear. Many of these 50,000 will not have served in combat at all. Many will not have had active engagement with enemy troops on the battlefield. Many of those who did see active fighting will not have been near explosive devices. So we’re not comparing him to 50,000 TBI sufferers.
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Counterintuitivity 
Notes
-follow the reference sources of one source
-posts can be pinned and will be at the top of the blog
-if you say money most people think of cash
-money fluctuates-stock market/houses
-we don’t really own anything on Earth
-on the blog there is a link to other sources for the stone money assignment
-when you have an abstract concept or source you may lose the attention of your audience
-important to keep track of terminology
-moving on is the solution to problems you think you’re engaged in
-purpose of claims is to make you a better reader
-should be making several claims in a sentence
-money is usually fictional
-let’s harvest the organs of death row inmates-YouTube video
-let’s is a claim-I suggest… is that okay?
-have to be careful of wording, could be stealing. Can’t take something that doesn’t belong to you, that’s not harvesting
-a side effect of purposeful death is that the organs go sour
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Very nice.
I really like, “We don’t really own anything on Earth.”
3/3
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2-15-21
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These are more substantive than your Notes from other days, C. Nice work.
3/3
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Personal Reminder
today is a new day, treat it as such and do not dwell on yesterday
this week will be difficult, give yourself breaks as you need
Warm Up
-going down the rabbit hole is a good thing, dig deeper until you find new information that is useful to you
Stone Money, what was interesting to you?
-the comparison of information to money, made me think of a documentary on Brexit and Cambridge Analytica.
-social media persuades us to think certain ways and makes money by selling our information about everything we do online.
The Process (Stone Money and my hypothesis)
-read as much as you can and react to the source material, do not waste time “brainstorming”
-do not “solve” problems before moving on, moving forward is a solution
-use source material given on the blog
– the 3,000 words is broken up, if you stay on target it won’t be very difficult
Today’s New Material
– recognize the ways an author is manipulating you
-your notes have been good so far, try to stay consistent in making claims
-Video
— let’s is the first claim, it is a proposal
— let’s harvest the organs of death row inmates, is an argument because it is actually stealing. taking something that doesn’t belong to you isn’t harvesting
–let’s harvest is an analogy claim, we have no right to the organs
–death row inmates, narrows the argument
–look at the transition from making us focus on the organs, not the death of the inmate
–notice the claim of the death row inmate being male
–use Donor Execution as an example of what you should do when reading and listening to resources and being able to recognize claims
–start to pull out when you’re being manipulated on social media. recognize that ad posts that you see that are meant to pull your interest based on your electronic footprint
PTSD paragraph number will be given next class
recognize that you were distracted today, read other’s notes who received a 3/3 or higher to see if you missed any important points that will be useful to you
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I look forward to your personal reflections, HS.
Also, regarding “today is a new day”:
Love the claim-by-claim rundown of the “Harvest” video.
3/3
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-“Going down the rabbit hole” means to look for information, and while looking for information getting sucked into it and losing 3 hours of your time digging through articles or videos.
-The panhandlers in Beijing do digital transactions.
-The research essay will be comprised of 3 1000 word arguments.
-The Stone Money essay needs to meet 1000 words.
-In the United States, you can consent to having your organs harvested and have it labelled on your driver’s license that you are an organ donor.
-When someone is hanged or poisoned on death row, their organs go bad before they can be useful. However, there are other methods of execution that would potentially preserve the organs. This could be done by putting the patient to sleep and removing their organs. This will painlessly kill them, 100% of the time.
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Interesting the things you choose to spotlight. 🙂
3/3
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Reference to research as a “rabbit hole” to gain info on a topic or change hypothesis altogether
Stone Money Podcast Discussion: (My Interest: Physical Money slowly deteriorating away in society)
The idea of possessing or owning anything is actually a fiction
Idea of cash is becoming entirely abstract in today’s world as many now carry a piece of plastic (credit/debit card) rather than paper (cash)
Cows and Chips (Perfect illustration/comparison) of value of money in any context
Rather than brainstorming ideas, just read about your topic and react
Every piece generally stakes multiple claims throughout, sometimes multiple in a sentence
Something as simple as the phrase “Let’s” is making a claim
Death Row Inmates: a sort of justification for committing the act of harvesting organs
The title can include multiple claims right off the bat
Some methods used to execute death row inmates contaminate their organs (Counterintuitive)
Claims Task: ONE HOUR EVALUATION
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I like the acknowledgment that sentences often contain several claims.
3/3
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2/15/21 Notes
“Led me down a rabbit hole”- following one thing after another and getting sucked in, can be valueable when you follow one lead after another. “Stone Money” essay due Tuesday night. Also we don’t really own anything, apparently. The only real reason money is valuable is so it can turn into some tangible object. Wealth is mostly speculative, as people can decide whether to see someone as wealthy or not. Techniques are used to add things of value to different claims all over the source material, so we as writers have to find ways to make effective claims of our own. Anything can be a claim, just a few words can make a claim. Others require more detail. Claims can often times be heavily disputed if and when more opinions or evidence shows up. Claims can be broken down to bare minimum ideas. They can vary all over the place too.
-Claims assignment due Next Monday 2/22
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Yep. Claims are complicated.
3/3
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2/15
Falling into a rabbit hole can be valuable –> following your source’s sources
– Prove the rabbit that you find, but if a puppy is found, prove the puppy.
– Whatever outcome you find, share that and set out to prove it.
– Shaping and changing your hypothesis as you react to your research is important
The invention of money discussion:
– Ownership is almost as fictional as money, since it’s only agreed upon, not physically real
– Ground conversation in something abstract, Cows and Chips
– Helps illustrate abstract concepts through shared experiences and/or physical objects
*Keep track of what you’re referring to (currency as cash, coin, or value?) as not to confuse your reader
– Currency and value is simply what other people agree it to be
Claims (New material):
– Make claims not observations
– “Usually” on its own is a claim. Recognize the persuasive value of certain words or phrases, as well as those introducing a proposal such as “let’s”
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Simple concrete dictates like “– Ground conversation in something abstract, Cows and Chips” make really good Notes.
3/3
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-Rabbit hole: getting stuck after following a trail. Originally from Alice and Wonderland. Following rabbit holes in your sources helps build your bibliography.
-People give you stuff for money because they know other people will take a certain amount of money for it. The dollar means something because it can turn into a physical object. -Ground your reader with shared experiences. Keep track of terminology.
-Professor told us what bad notes look like
-Should be making several claims in your writing.
-let’s is a claim because its a proposal.
-Talked about donating organs and why we think its okay to take death row inmates organs.
-Organs go sour if they are poisoned or hung.
-In every claimed and frame of the youtube video watched theres manipulation
-When you’re a reader you have to be aware of manipulation
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No one else made these observations:
3/3
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In today’s warm up we discussed falling down a rabbit hole. This is looking at a subject and it leads you farther and farther into this subject. We should follow these, especially by looking at sources from papers we are reading. This gives us a richer understanding of each topic and the branches that feed the main root of the topic which are important to know.
We had a discussion on the stone money podcast and what we found interesting. We looked into how an object is only worth something if we all agree it is worth something. If we were all to agree to stop then it would be worth nothing.
When we write we should share something in ground experience.
We need to make sure that we have three sources. Two are required but the third is our choice from the ones listed or if we find one ourselves. I personally may find something interesting with cryptocurrency because it relates so well to the topic.
We are currently looking into “Let’s Harvest the Organs of Death Row Inmates” and we are specifically looking at the claims in this video. The video has many persuasive techniques. This is accomplished using small tricks of the mind and visual techniques that make it grounded and more understandable to our personal lives.
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You neglected to mention that this is why MONEY is valuable:
3/3
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Research led me down the rabbit hole.
While researching make sure to look through the sources of the articles you are looking at, it may give you a much more interesting article.
Reminder: finish the Stone money essay by tomorrow night (2/15/21)(also make sure that the essay is 1000 words)
Before money, trade was how people made transactions, then eventually when coins where used they made the coins out of valuable metals. Then the dollar was introduced to act as a form of currency, and now both of those are starting to go in favor of cards(credit, debit)
Selling option: You can sell the ability to purchase an item.
For ex: If I wanted to buy a boat from someone, I’d buy the ability to be able to buy the boat with in a certain amount of time. so I’d first put down $1000 then come to an agreement that if I can raise a certain amount of money by a certain date then I can buy the item, if not the seller gets to keep the item and my $1000
Use the deadline tab on this website in order to keep track on what’s due.
The professor points out that in most of our notes we fail to make claims, but rather we just make statements. The point of studying claims is that it helps you recognize how the author is trying to persuade you in his article. You can in turn use it in order to persuade your reader.
Ex: Lets harvest the organs of death row inmates
The lets sets up the sentence as a claim rather than a statement since it almost like its asking.
Due Feb 22: spend one hour on the article of if PTSD is contagious. And try to find the different kinds of claims in the article in a particular paragraph.
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As they say in social media: THIS
3/3
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Rabit hole: Following one thing and it keeps leading to another. Comes from Alice and Wonderland. Hopping from sources to sources when researching your topic for the final paper. Stone Money topic due midnight Tue 2/16. To join conferences, use the next available Zoom link on canvas. Currency only has value because we are told that it does. Selling $1 million worth of bonds doesn’t mean you are a millionaire. Ownership is fictional. Paper money used to be able to be traded for gold. Now the value is just made up, not backed by anything. Use Cows and Chips to understand abstract. Helps by having physical objects. Money is abstract. Stocks are speculative. Claims assignment is an exercise in recognizing claims. Due midnight Sun 2/21. The process on the agenda page shows how you will shape your hypothesis into a 3000-word essay. The Stone Money section on the right side of the blog has a list of sources that can be used to support your claims in the essay. Understanding claims can help me become more alert while reading. Recognizing the author’s claims should persuade. Claims have persuasive value. Video on claims. “Let’s harvest the Organs of Death Row Inmates.” Example of a proposal claim. Preserving fruits of our own labor. Death row inmates are at the end of their lives. By being convicted of their crimes, they could lose the choice to keep their organs. They don’t deserve their organs. In other countries, organs are accessible because everyone donates their organs when they die. Hanging and poisoning someone can make their organs go sour. Lots of ways that organs can go bad during execution. Be alert when reading. Video says “This kid died waiting for this heart”. The heart was soured because of the method of execution. Claim assignment is finding claims on a podcast called “Is PTSD Contagious?” Due midnight 2/21.
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Fascinating reading, Person.
3/3
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-Link to zoom conferences is at top of blog
-use cows and chips to better illustrate abstract concepts
-use the correct terminology, “cash” may not mean the same thing as currency
– Money today is mostly numbers on a screen
-An option is to have the right to pay something at a later time
-Stock traders buy the option to buy stocks if the market goes a certain direction
-become repetitive and write the more you read
-writing things over and over will help you solidify your beliefs
-do not get hung up on problems that don’t have solutions, just move on
-Recognizing claims makes you a more alert reader
-by analyzing claims we can see how the writer is trying to persuade us
-several claims can be made in a single sentence
-“let’s” is a claim because it is proposing that it should be able to do something
-China allows the organs of death row inmates to be taken
-Manipulation can happen at every claim (writer of death row inmates never actually says a judge denied prisoners the option of donating organs, but his phrasing makes it seem that way)
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Your Notes are consistently exceptional, CC. This time I’m grading you to acknowledge the very high percentage of your observations that are in themselves clear claims.
4/3
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2/15/21
We opened up class with a picture which stated “My research led me down a rabbit hole”. That graphic was used to show you that when you look up something the first thing you look at will take you to a new source and that new source will take you to a new source. Let the source follow you deeper and deeper into the “rabbit hole”
We talked about the broadcast and what we found interesting.
We don’t really own anything.
Ownership is entirely fictional
How people use stone as money value when we used pieces of gold and coins
talked about how Brazil’s inflation was so much and how it can really affect the families.
Talked about cows and chips. Which is used for use to express our abstract minds and to stay on track in the “stone money essay”
Claims
used to make your a more careful studier and reader
We then looked at a video “Let’s harvest the organs of death row inmates”
Let’s is the first claim in this title because it’s a proposal claim. If no one stops you that means it is a full go.
Harvest is an analogy claim. They are saying harvesting organs is like harvesting crops on a farm
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Strong work, JHTP.
3/3
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Today, the hypothesis was about going down a rabbit hole. This was to look at a subject and see where it leads you farther and farther into this subject. That we should follow these, especially by looking at sources from papers we are reading.
We went over what the stone money assignment should look like, with each paragraph having a meaning of a different topic. The essay should be a 2,000-word paper, squeezed into a 1,000-word paper.
We had a class discussion on NPR on stolen money, we went around the class discussing what the most interesting part was. That we don’t really own anything and that ownership is only really an idea and that it doesn’t hold any real value.
One person talked about the inflation that happens in Brazil, another person talked about how they gave value to stones
We watch a video of death row inmates. We went into the death of what the claim was that was being made. The significance that it has and what it really means.
We were then given the assignment that is due next Monday on practicing identifying claims. We will either listen to a podcast or read an article on PTSD.
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Your Notes are slipping a bit here, Iced. This section means almost nothing:
3/3
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The Stone Money essay needs to meet 1000 words. I learned from the Stone Money podcast that money really is nothing. Numbers going up in your bank account are truly just numbers. No cash involved. Money is really fiction. Stone Money was not used for your everyday purchases, it was used for big and important events such as getting your soldiers body back. Money doesn’t change hands when we pay our bills online. It’s just numbers going back and forth through a computer. The money doesn’t really exist. Most of the money that exists is just the bank saying there is so and so amount of money in your account. The government tricked 150 million people into thinking their money was actually worth something when there was truly no evidence to prove that. The federal reserve isn’t apart of the government. They are simply responsible for creating money out of simply nothing. They are an independent company responsible for the economy , not responsible for the president.
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It appears you may have fallen asleep after the Stone Money discussion, Kobe. Don’t let your Notes slip.
3/3
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Doing research about an assignment in ways is like a rabbit hole of info, depending on the information you find it could lead to better or worse eventually leading you deeper into the rabbit hole.
It doesn’t really matter what material money made out of, money can out of almost anything but it’s what you can get from it that really matters. Of course before there were ways of using a currency to get what you need you would trade things that you needed more with items or anything that was less value to you and had more of a purpose for the other person.
When supply doesn’t meet demand the price of the supply will go up while basically decreasing the value of your money because since the limited supply of whatever is limited it becomes more valuable.
The point of studying claims is trying to see how an author is using certain words to make their claims stick out and not seem to far fetched, otherwise people wouldn’t see it ass believable.
Provocation – A means of arousing or stirring of actions
A claim could be as simple as the word let’s which is a proposal to do so, unless opposed by another person
A lot of what goes into claims being made is the persuasion and illusion of pictures and what they try to portray as to why something might be occurring
In the video the author claims that “A kid died waiting for that heart” just the simple really twist what is actually going on in the video to make the you believe the claims being made are correct and morally okay, I’m not saying these claims aren’t good ones either.
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Chock-full of arresting observations.
4/3
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